Greene County Democrat

Tag: parimutuel license with the Greene County Racing Commission

  • District Judge Lillie Osborne quashed her own search warrant, allowing Palace Live pari-mutuel gaming center to re-open

    By John Zippert, Co-Publisher

    Greene County District Judge Lillie Jones-Osborne issued an order, after holding an emergency hearing on Monday, January 13, 2025, to quash a search warrant that she issued to Sheriff Jonathan Benison in late December 2024, alleging that “illegal gambling machines” were in use by the Palace Live at its Knoxville, Alabama location. On December 30, 2024, sheriff’s deputies closed and padlocked the Palace Live.

    The emergency hearing was requested by the Five Star Investment Company LLC, owners of the Palace Live, who had been licensed by the Greene County Racing Commission, to carry out pari-mutuel dog and horse racing, including simulcasting and the operation of Historic Horse Racing (HHR) machines at their gaming center. The Greene County Racing Commission was not consulted by the Sheriff in securing the search warrant from Judge Osborne.

    In her order, the Judge, in addition to squashing the search warrant, ordered the return of all properties seized from the Palace Live. The Democrat has learned that the Palace Live re-opened for gaming last night, Tuesday, January 14, 2025.

    At the emergency hearing on Monday centered around the legality of the Greene County Racing Commission to license pari-mutuel wagering in Greene County and whether Historic Horse Racing (HHR) machines require ‘skill’ to operate or are merely ‘illegal slot machines’ that should not be allowed in Greene County.

    The lawyers representing the Sheriff, Flint Liddon of Birmingham and Troy King of Montgomery, were arguing that the HHR machines authorized by the Greene County Racing Commission were illegal gambling machines when they have been representing the Sheriff for years saying electronic bingo machines were not illegal slot machines but were allowed under Alabama Constitutional Amendment 743 permitting bingo on electronic machines in Greene County.

    Lawyers for the Palace Live, including Glenmoore Powers and William Pompey for the Greene County Racing Commission, called Linette Brown, Chair of the Greene County Racing Commission, as a witness. She testified to the history of pari-mutuel greyhound dog and horse racing in Greene County since it was authorized in 1975 by Sections 45-32-150 and subsections .01 to .20 of Alabama law. The Racing Commission originally licensed Greenetrack for live greyhound dog racing, later for simulcasting of dogs and horses. The Racing Commission licensed Greene County Entertainment for simulcasting and Historic Horse Racing (HHR) .

    When Greene County Entertainment was forced to close due to a lawsuit concerning sales taxes assessed by the State of Alabama, the company turned its pari-mutuel gaming license back to the Greene County Racing Commission.

    The Racing Commission publicly advertised the availability of a license for pari-mutuel gaming in Greene County in the Fall of 2024. On October 4, 2024, the Racing Commission authorized a license to Five Star Investment Company, LLC which owns The Palace Live. The Palace remodeled its building for simulcasting and relaced its bingo machines with HHR machines. The HHR machines were certified by an independent gaming laboratory which ruled the machines were legal pari-mutuel wagering machines, similar to those used at Greene Entertainment, the Birmingham Racecourse and Victoryland in Macon County.

    Part of the hearing was a discussion of whether the HHR machines involved skill or whether they were illegal slot machines. Another witness at the hearing, Justin Poole, Operations Manager at the Palace, testified that there is information on the HHR machines that players can access to handicap the races which is the ‘skill’ element of the machines. The Sheriff’s lawyers pointed out that a player can put money in the machines and spin about twenty times a minute, without reviewing the handicapping data if they wish to play the machines that way.

    In her ruling, Judge Jones-Osborne said she was not ruling on the legality of the wagering machines at the Palace Live, but only if the search warrant should be quashed and the property returned to the owners. She said that the Sheriff’s deputies, “should have included the Greene County Racing Commission in their investigation before seeking a search warrant”. She then quashed the warrant and restored the property to its owners.

    The Sheriff or the State of Alabama can appeal the judge’s decision in this case if they wish to continue the fight over the legality of HHR machines in Greene County.

    Some knowledgeable observers of Greene County politics, said the Sheriff had pursued the search warrant to close the Palace Live because the proceeds of pari-mutuel wagering would be administered by the Greene County Racing Commission and not the Sheriff’s Office, which has administered all funds from electronic bingo. Since the State of Alabama has taken court action to close electronic bingo in Greene County, the Sheriff will no longer be administering or distributing gaming funds in Greene County.

    The Greene County Racing Commission is currently advertising in the Legal Advertising Section of our newspaper “a bill to be entitled” which amends and updates sections of the 1975 law creating the Racing Commission. After advertisement for four successive weeks, this bill will be submitted to the Alabama Legislature as a local bill in the coming session. Among the amendments are changes to the Commission’s distribution formula for funds generated from pari-mutuel wagering. The purpose of advertising the bill is to elicit comments and suggestions from our readers to the Racing Commission and our Greene County legislative delegation.

  • Palace bingo facility will host simulcast racing

    Racing Commission awards operating license for pari-mutual wagering and simulcast racing

    The Greene County Racing Commission has awarded a six year operating license to Five Star Investment Company, LLC to conduct parimutuel wagering with authorization to conduct Greyhound Simulcasting and Historical Horse Racing Gaming. According to the Racing commission, only one application was submitted. The license is awarded for six years at a fee of $10,000 per year.
    The licensee will contribute 4% of revenues to the Racing Commission towards its operations and to distribute to designated entities as previously prescribed by Alabama Legislative Action. These entities include Greene County Hospital Board, Greene County Board of Education, Greene County Commission, incorporated municipalities, law enforcement, ambulance service and maintenance, other designated community organizations and programs.
    The new licensee will conduct simulcasting gaming at the Palace Gaming facility in Knoxville. Reportedly, the Racing Commission’s offices will also be located at the Palace.
    The previous license for Pare-Mutuel Wagering, Greyhound Simulcasting and Historical Horse Racing Gaming had been held by Greenetrack, Inc. and operated at its gaming facility. According to Mr. Luther Winn, former Greenetrack, Inc. CEO and President, the 
Greenetrack facilities on Greene County Road 208 and all properties, once in Greenetrack’s name, have been confiscated by the State of Alabama. The Greenetrack Gaming facility, previously co-owned by Greenetrack stockholders and the Greene County government is currently co-owned by the State of Alabama and Greene County government.
    It should be noted that the electronic bingo gaming which the State of Alabama deemed illegal at Greenetrack and precipitated its closing is the same electronic bingo gaming currently operating at other facilities in Greene County.

  • May 4th hearing on State of Alabama’s case against electronic bingo in Greene Co. sets mid-October trial date

    Special to the Democrat by John Zippert, Co-Publisher

    Retired Birmingham Circuit Judge, Arthur J. Hanes convened a status hearing on the afternoon of May 4, 2023 in the William M. Branch Courthouse, on the State of Alabama’s lawsuit against “illegal gambling machines” operated by four electronic bingo establishments in Greene County. The Sheriff licensed these electronic bingo places under his authority in Constitutional Amendment 743 providing for bingo in Greene County.

    At a prior hearing in November 2022, Judge Hanes asked the parties to the lawsuit to engage in a mediation session to see if they could reach a negotiated settlement. The mediation sessions were held earlier in 2023 without a positive result.

    At the November 2022 hearing, Judge Hanes dismissed Greenetrack from the lawsuit, since Greenetrack no longer operates electronic bingo. Greenetrack currently has “historical racing machines” under its parimutuel license with the Greene County Racing Commission.

    Judge Hanes, who was appointed out of retirement by the Alabama Judicial System, to hear the Greene County electronic bingo case, said the May 4th hearing was to hear from the State of Alabama and the parties, to schedule hearings on outstanding issues and schedule the trial.

    State Attorney General Steve Marshall, who originally filed the suit against Greene County electronic bingo machines in 2017, as “nuisance illegal gambling machines” was represented by Assistant Attorney General John L. Kachelman III. Kachelman exhibited some dismay over the delays in the case and kept pressing for a prompt trial and resolution of the case.

    Kachelman and the Judge kept referring to the decision of the Alabama Supreme Court in other electronic bingo cases, involving Macon, Lowndes and Jefferson counties, that “bingo is exclusively a game played on paper cards, with five rows and five columns of numbers, wherein the players had to keep up with their numbers manually”, as opposed to the electronic bingo played on machines in Greene County. The State of Alabama is asserting that electronic bingo machines operate like “illegal slot machines”, not a paper card game, specified and defined by the Alabama Supreme Court.

    Attorneys were present representing Frontier, Rivers Edge, Bama Bingo and the machine company associated with Palace Bingo. The bingo charities and Sheriff Bennison were also represented by attorneys.

    Attorney Hank Sanders, representing the Greene County Health System (GCHS), which receives $67,000 per month in bingo funds to subsidize its operations, was also present. Sanders has filed motions to intervene in the case on behalf of GCHS to protect its interest in the Greene County bingo operation.

    Judge Hanes asked Attorney Sanders did he have arguments beyond “the cruelty of closing the bingo facilities because of loss of funding for health care”. Hanes said he was fully aware of the community job losses and revenues that would be lost by government and non-profit organizations by the closing of bingo.

    Attorney Sanders said there might also be a violation of health statutes and the American Disabilities Act by closing bingo, based on funding generated for the GCHS including the hospital. The Judge gave Sanders, 30 days to file a motion to intervene in the case on behalf of GCHS and said he would consider the motion.

    In response to questions from other attorneys, Judge Hanes asked 
AG Kachelman about “the discovery” he made available to the other parties in the case. Kachelman said he had sent 15 giga-bytes of information on the state’s investigation of electronic bingo, including “under-cover agents, who played the bingo machines”, to all the lawyers and was open to questions but this was the information that his case against the bingo machines would rest upon.

    Judge Hanes ruled that he would accept motions and challenges questioning the discovery and asking for other information over the next 60 days, with a 30-day period to respond.

    In the course of these discussions, the lawyers raised several other issues. The lawyers said the actions of the Attorney General were “arbitrary and capricious” with regard to gambling in Greene County. The AG is now in charge of licensing sports betting in the state, a multi-million-dollar gambling business. They also pointed out that the AG’s office had reached an agreement with Houston County bingo to remove machines and play only on paper cards, but that the machines have continued in operation in that county, without follow-up enforcement by the AG. The lawyers also said the State of Alabama was doing random tax audits of the electronic bingo establishments, which they felt was unfair during the litigation over the machines.

    Kachelman kept coming back to the Alabama Supreme Court decision ruling that electronic bingo was an illegal use of gambling machines and the only legal form of bingo was on paper cards.

    Judge Hanes said he would schedule a pre-trial hearing in August on all motions and concerns and a trial date, 60 days thereafter by mid-October 2023. While justice is moving slowly, it is clear that the future of electronic bingo is unclear after this year. However, the trial works out, the other side will likely appeal to the Alabama Supreme Court, which seems to have an immovable position on electronic bingo.